Low-platform railway car bogie

ABSTRACT

A rail vehicle which comprises a bogie, in which at least three wheel axles are mounted in a frame consisting of a main frame section and at least one additional frame section, which is mounted at the end of the main frame section for a vertical pivotal movement. The main frame section comprises a main crossbeam, which is provided with a bogie or king pin and is connected at least at one end to the side member of the frame by means which enable a pivotal movement of the two side members of the main frame section relative to each other.

United States Patent Pelz LOW-PLATFORM RAILWAY CAR BOGIE Inventor: Friedrich Pelz, Vienna, Austria Simmering-Graz-Pauker Aktiengesellschaft fur Maschinen-Kessel und Waggenbau, Vienna, Austria May 27, 1970 Assignee:

Filed:

Appl. No.:

Foreign Application Priority Data May 27, 1969 Austria ..4,990/69 References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 8/1967 Gross et a1 105/199 R X 51 May 30, 1972 Primary ExaminerArthur L. La Point Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran An0mey--1mirie & Smiley [57] ABSTRACT A rail vehicle which comprises a bogie, in which at least three wheel axles are mounted in a frame consisting of a main frame section and at least one additional frame section, which is mounted at the end of the main frame section for a vertical pivotal movement. The main frame section comprises a main crossbeam, which is provided with a bogie or king pin and is connected at least at one end to the side member of the frame by means which enable a pivotal movement of the two side members of the main frame section relative to each other.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Patented May 30, 1972 3,665,865

INVENT OR FmEnRicH PELZ ATTORNEYS LOW-PLATFORM RAILWAY CAR BOGIE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A rail vehicle comprising at least one bogie, in which at least two axles are mounted in a main frame section having side members and a main beam which connects said side members, and at least one additional axle is mounted in an additional frame section, which is mounted on the end of the main frame section for a pivotal movement in a vertical direction, the main beam comprising a bogie or king pin connected to the underbody of the vehicle, and being connected at least to one of the side members by means which permit of a pivotal movement of the side members relative to each other.

The invention relates to a rail vehicle, particularly one having a low-level platform. Such vehicles have been described as low-platform vehicles. The improvement resides only in the design of the frame of the bogie, which in this case comprises three or more axles.

In rail vehicles of this kind, at least two of such bogies are movably connected to each car body and comprise each two or more axles, which are rigidly mounted in a main frame section against movement in the longitudinal and transverse directions, and said main frame section is rotatably connected to the body of the vehicle. An additional axle is mounted in an additional frame section. The car body is supported on the bogies by means of vertical supporting springs and sliding plates, which are disposed between the main and additional frame sections, on the one hand, and the bottom longitudinal members and the underside of the car body, on the other hand.

When such a frame arrangement is used in a rail vehicle having a low-level platform, the space which is available is too small for a sufficient spring-cushioning of the axle bearings relative to the main frame section of the bogie so that there is in most cases only one spring between the axle bearing and the bogie frame. This spring, which may consist, e.g., of an interposed rubber slab, permits only of a small spring deflection.

Whereas the two axles in the main frame section of the bogie are disposed as closely together as possible, the points where the wheels contact the track do not always lie in a plane because a misalignment of the track is inevitable. This may result in great differences between the pressures on the wheels and even in a total relief of pressure at one of the points where four wheels contact the track.

Because it is desired that all tensile and compressive forces should be transmitted by the bogie pin from the main crossbeam, the latter must be adequately dimensioned for this purpose and in the known frames is an essential reason for the stiffness of the frame.

It is an object of the invention to eliminate these disadvantages and to provide a bogie having a main frame section which is as elastic as possible.

An essential feature of the invention resides in that the main crossbeam of the main frame section is connected at one end or at both ends to the remaining parts of the frame by an articulated joint which permits of a pivotal movement of the two side members of the frame relative to each other and which transmits the forces coming from the bogie or king pin.

The main crossbeam is desirably rigidly connected to one side member and is connected to the other side member by a pin, which is rotatably mounted at least in one of the parts to be connected.

Further features of the invention will be explained more fully with reference to the drawing, which shows an embodiment of the invention by way of example.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation and FIG. 2 a top plan view showing a four-axle bogie according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows only that part of the platform of the rail vehicle which covers one of the two bodies. h is the height of the floor of the vehicle. This dimension h may be about 15.7480 inches (400 millimeters) or less with a low-platform car. The bogie comprises a frame 21, which consists of a main frame section 1 and two additional frame sections 2, which are hinged to respective ends of the main frame section 1 on respective horizontal axes 22, which are transverse to the direction of travel.

The bogie includes four wheel sets 23, 24, 25, and 26, each of which comprises an axle 3 and two wheels 4, which are 12.7795 inches (350 millimeters or less in diameter. The axles 3 of the two outer wheel sets 23 and 26 are rigidly mounted in side members 27 of the additional frame sections 2 against movement in the longitudinal and transverse directions. The axles 3 of the two inner wheel sets 24 and 25 are similarly mounted in the main frame section 1. The distance between the axles of the main frame section 1 is smaller than the distance between each of said axles and the adjacent axle of the outer wheel sets 23, 26. The distance between the axles 3 of the wheel sets 24, 25 of the main frame section 1 may be desirably smaller than one-half of the track gauge.

The main frame section 1 of the bogie comprises two side members 6, 7, which in their middle portion are connected by a main crossbeam 5 and in which the axles 3 of the inner wheel sets 24, 25 are mounted. The side members 6, 7 are also connected at their forward and rear ends by respective flat crossbeams 8 and 9, respectively, which extend transversely to the direction of travel. These flat crossbeams carry the braking means and are soft in torsion. The braking means may comprise brake cylinders, which by means of levers etc. operate brake shoes, not shown, which cooperate with the track wheels. The main crossbeam 5 is strong and carries a bogie or king pin 10, which is disposed approximately at the intersection of the longitudinal center plane of the bogie and the center line of the main crossbeam 5 and is connected to the underframe or the platform 20 of the rail vehicle. The main crossbeam 5 is firmly and rigidly connected to one side member 7 and is connected to the other side member 8 by a circular-section pin 11, which is mounted in the side member 6 by means of a bushing 12 and in the beam 5 by means of a bushing 13 and permits of a rotation of the beam 5 relative to the side member 6. As a result, a pivotal movement of the side member 7 relative to the side member 6 will not be resisted by the main beam 5. The pivot pin 11 transmits also the forces coming from the bogie or king pin 10. It will be understood that the pivot pin 11 may be replaced by other means which permit of a pivotal movement and a transmission of force.

The free ends of the side members 27 of the two hinged additional frame sections 2 are connected by a rod 28.

The underframe is supported on the bogie by helical compression springs 14 and sliding plates 29 disposed between the wheel axles 3 of the main frame section and the wheel axles of the additional frame section 2 and at the ends of the latter. The lower ends of the two outer springs are disposed in spring housings carried by the hinged additional frame sections 2. The inner springs extend into spring housings carried by the side members 6 and 7 of the main frame section 1.

What is claimed is:

1. A low-platfonn car, comprising at least a bogie which supports a body frame, said bogie having a frame comprising a main frame section which is provided at least at one end thereof with an additional frame section that is hinged to the main frame section on an axis which is transverse to the direction of travel, at least three axles mounted in said bogie frame and provided with track wheels, at least two of said axles being mounted in said main frame section and at least one of said axles being mounted in said additional frame section, said main frame section having a central main crossbeam which is transverse to the direction of travel and is connected at opposite ends to respective frame side members extending in the direction of travel ,one end of said main crossbeam being rigidly connected to one of said side members, the other end of said crossbeam being rotatably connected to the other of said side members by means of a pin extending transverse to the direction of travel and being rotatably mounted in at least one of the two parts connected thereby, said main crossbeam aperatured for a king pin to connect to a bottom member of a rail vehicle and being provided at least at one point with means of respective bushings.

3. A rail vehicle as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that the main frame section is provided at its forward and rear ends with respective flexible flat crossbeams. 

1. A low-platform car, comprising at least a bogie which supports a body frame, said bogie having a frame comprising a main frame section which is provided at least at one end thereof with an additional frame section that is hinged to the main frame section on an axis which is transverse to the direction of travel, at least three axles mounted in said bogie frame and provided with track wheels, at least two of said axles being mounted in said main frame section and at least one of said axles being mounted in said additional frame section, said main frame section having a central main crossbeam which is transverse to the direction of travel and is connected at opposite ends to respective frame side members extending in the direction of travel,one end of said main crossbeam being rigidly connected to one of said side members, the other end of said crossbeam being rotatably connected to the other of said side members by means of a pin extending transverse to the direction of travel and being rotatably mounted in at least one of the two parts connected thereby, said main crossbeam aperatured for a king pin to connect to a bottom member of a rail vehicle and being provided at least at one point with means which permit of a pivotal movement of said two frame side members relative to each other and are arranged to transmit the forces coming from said king pin.
 2. A rail vehicle as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that the pin which connects the main crossbeam to one frame side member is rotatably mounted in the beam and side member by means of respective bushings.
 3. A rail vehicle as set forth in claim 1, characterized in that the main frame section is provided at its forward and rear ends with respective flexible flat crossbeams. 